Morning Show Hacks: 7 Insights from 2 Guys Named Chris

Chris Kelly: 00:00:00

Once we started, he put us together and said, let's see if it'll fly.

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And the first month or so, we were green

and it didn't look like it was gonna fly.

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VO: Welcome to BRANDwidth on Demand,

your guide to rebooting radio.

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Chris Demm: Know your role, pick

your spots and be respectful.

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And take your job seriously,

but not yourself seriously.

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VO2: BRANDwidth on Demand.

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Rebooting radio with a different

take on all radio can be.

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Now, your guides through the

mediamorphosis, David Martin, and author

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of the book, BRANDwidth on Demand,

media branding coach, Kipper McGee.

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Dave: This time around we talk with

a morning show duo who create a

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daily dose of laughter, information,

and whatever other unpredictable

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adventures they can cook up.

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Killer content all from

scratch, folks, really.

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Radio veteran Chris Kelly brings

his smooth voice and years of

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experience to the table, having

captivated audiences for decades.

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Comedic partner Chris Demm keeps

things fresh with his sharp wit

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and off the wall humor, creating a

dynamic duo that's garnered the hearts

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of listeners across the country.

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They've received numerous awards and

accolades, including an NAB Marconi.

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And they were named North Carolina

Broadcasters Morning Show of the Year.

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The show has achieved consistent number

one ratings in both Nielsen and Eastland.

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It's now being heard on

stations from coast to coast.

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BRANDwidth on Demand is proud to

welcome The one and oh, I guess

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the two in them guys named Chris.

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Kipper: Welcome.

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Welcome.

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Chris Kelly: Those are the nicest

things anybody's ever said about us.

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Wow.

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Thank you.

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That's very kind.

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Thank you.

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Kipper: Okay.

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So with 2 Guys Named Chris, I

got to ask first, which Chris

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is which just so everybody knows

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Chris Kelly: I'm Chris

Kelly and I am Chris Demm.

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Kipper: And just for the record,

what do you guys do in the show?

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I mean, you're cohosts, but what's the job

description for each of you and anybody

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else, major part of the playing cast?

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Chris Kelly: Yeah, we

have, uh, two other guys.

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We, we really plan a lot of the

show and, uh, you know, I run the

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board and sort of kick off each

break, but it's very ensemble.

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We try, I think we have a really

good group that fits together.

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Well, great chemistry.

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We have a third, a producer on the show.

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His name is Josh Ellinger

and everybody just calls him

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Biggie because he's a big guy.

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And then we have a, uh, we have a

meteorologist who joined probably almost

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20 years ago just to start doing weather,

but he, he was really, uh, such a fun

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and funny personality that he became part

of the show and his name is Dave Aiken.

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And, um, It just seems to really

flow well with the four of us.

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Kipper: That's cool.

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So on the show, and even in writing and

articles and stuff, you often joke about

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instantly hating each other because you

were at different stations, although

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digging a little deeper, I found out

you also kind of grew up together.

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So what's the story there?

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Chris Demm: The hatred part is

actually a hundred percent accurate.

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You know, we, I think we both

started in radio in about the: 1980

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And at that point, at least in our

experience, a lot of radio was very

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parochial and there was crosstown wars.

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There was, uh, battles on the street.

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And so Chris Kelly entered our,

you know, we kind of entered the

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market, maybe roughly the same time.

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He was on a top 40 station and I

was on the classic rock station.

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And through fate, our owner

purchased both stations.

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So now we were working for the same

company, working for very powerful,

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very experienced morning hosts.

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And so we realized we had the

same job, but our job was to knock

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the other guy off the podium.

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And so we really disliked each other in a

way that only insecure radio people can.

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Chris Kelly: Right.

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Kipper: Okay.

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And so then.

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How'd they get you together?

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Chris Kelly: Well, then, you know,

Chris Demm is such a nice guy.

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Uh, all of a sudden we were at

events together and things like that.

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And then we started playing

basketball together and they teamed

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us up to do things in the company,

like a plan company, Christmas

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party skits and things like that.

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And, you know, I just, Chris Demm is the

funniest person I know, and it's hard

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not to like him after a while because,

uh, he just is a funny, good guy.

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And so we became friends and did

things like hang out with other people

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that we played basketball and sports.

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And so when there was an

opportunity to put us together,

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Chris Demm: We had similar interests

for probably, you know, four

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or five years, well, before we

even thought about doing a show.

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And as Chris Kelly said, Once we

realized we were working basically

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the same job, you know, number two

microphones with very powerful hosts,

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we kind of commiserate over that.

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And we realized we had a lot of similar

interests and we had zero social life.

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And so, but we instantly had chemistry.

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We laughed at the same things.

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We thought the same movies were funny.

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The same movies were not funny.

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And I think we were joking about it

one night after a game of basketball

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nine o'clock at night, it was

summertime, the sun was still out.

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And we would often say, wouldn't it

be kind of cool to do a show together?

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Never dreaming it would happen.

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But then, uh, it's a long story about

how our company had a syndicated

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morning program in place and through

no decision of our companies, that

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syndicated show never happened.

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Left leaving our WKRR with a

gaping morning show opening.

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And so we, Chris Kelly lobbied our

boss and said, give us a chance.

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And stunningly he did.

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Chris Kelly: He did.

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Dave: Well, you guys have had this

incredible 25 year run of success.

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What are some of the unique benefits and

challenges of co hosting a morning show?

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Chris Kelly: The benefits was we knew each

other for a long time before we started.

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And once we started, as Chris Tim was

saying about our boss, um, he put us

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together and said, let's see if it'll fly

in the first month or so we were green and

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it didn't look like it was going to fly.

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And we really went through the wars

of trying to improve the show and our

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boss at the time, we thought he was

going to cancel us because it just

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wasn't going well in the first 6 weeks.

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But then he hooked us up with a guy named

Randy Lane, a pretty legendary consultant.

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And he helped us, that

was the benefit we had.

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He helped us immeasurably in year one.

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And then after that, I think, I know

we have the mantra of, you know, we

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might not be the funniest or best

ever, but we can work the hardest.

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And so I think we put a lot

of hard work into it early.

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And the more we did it, I just feel

like it just keeps falling into place

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more and more chemistry and it gets

just, I won't say easier and easier.

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I think we'd still try to keep it

fresh and, uh, and come up with

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more and more things and more and

more topics and stories to do.

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But learning from Randy Lane early

really helped us propel into some success

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Chris Demm: as far as

benefits and challenges.

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You know, I think.

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I don't want to, I think I

can speak for Chris Kelly.

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I think we both are doing what

we've always wanted to do.

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And for that, you can't

even put a value on that.

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The challenges of course, are,

you know, the radio advertising

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marketing has changed everybody and

there are more and more podcasts

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there's there's, you know, people can

listen to content wherever you are.

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So the challenge is.

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Making people want to

continue to seek you out.

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Chris Kelly: What a difference between

now and when we started as far as, I

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mean, it was us versus 20 other FM signals

here, and now it's West versus a million,

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everything and streaming and podcasting

and all of that is a amazing challenge.

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Kipper: Many of which though are yours.

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I mean, you got your own stream,

you got your shows out, your

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podcast, your feature bits.

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Chris Kelly: Well, I think you have to.

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Kipper: No, absolutely not.

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I think you're absolutely right.

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So obviously you agree on a lot of stuff.

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You laugh at the same things, you get

the same sense of humor, that kind

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of stuff, which is very helpful, but.

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Every show invariably will have

some differences here and there.

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And, one person wants to talk

about the, SAG awards and the

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other one doesn't or whatever.

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So can you give us an example of

something you disagreed about and how

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you resolved it...in real time, then?

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Chris Kelly: Well, I mean, there have

been times that we've disagreed on the

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air, but I think for us, there's such a

respect and friendship and long standing

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chemistry that, you know, you do it on

the air and it's a friendly disagreement.

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Generally, I don't think

anybody takes it to the next 15

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minutes or break or whatever.

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And I know that neither one

of us are really comfortable.

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I don't think talking about like politics.

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Sometimes we get into that and

I don't think Chris Dim likes

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to talk about it very much.

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And, you know, we'll disagree and

come at it from different sides.

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And then we usually resolve just

to, I think we're very good at, um,

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resolving those issues by saying,

okay, we don't want to talk about

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it, but we have to, because it's

a big enough item in the news.

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We try to keep everything really light

and funny, but some days, of course,

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if you've got a school shooting or

something, I hate talking about that

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kind of stuff, but it dominates the

news so much and he's really good.

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I'm saying, you know, this really

needs to be addressed and then we

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try to figure out a way to address

it in a way that fits with our show

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Chris Demm: and before, uh, Kipper,to

your question about conflicts.

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I mean.

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What stands out in my mind was for many

years, it was just Kelly and me, and

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we didn't even have a phone screener.

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Kelly would answer the

phone calls live on the air.

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You know, it was literally

radio without a net.

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And we did that for five years.

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And so I think we had some, and

to Randy Lane's credit, he said,

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you two need to play up your

differences and play your characters.

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You know, which is an

exaggerated version of yourself.

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And in my mind, I think we had this,

the lead up to the Gulf War, you

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know, and that was kind of, we kind

of butted heads on that on the air,

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but I don't think, to Chris Kelly's

point, we did not take it personally,

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you know, we knew we just had to do it.

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Chris Kelly: We're different in

that I, uh Would rather eat at

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Chick fil a or McDonald's and he'd

rather eat a fine meal and have

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wine and I'd rather drink Diet Coke.

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And, and so we play that up to the hilt.

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And then I would say bring as much,

I do a lot of talking about my body.

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Family, my son, funny little things

that happened to me throughout the day.

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I mean, give as much as you can

about yourself because that's

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what people talk to me about.

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And we do so many stories about the

news or whatever, but all people talk

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to me about are the personal things.

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Uh, you know, two things I can think of.

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I play pickleball and we talk about it

and that's all anybody talks to me about.

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And a couple of years ago.

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I had something happen to me.

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I got scammed in a, uh, pine straw scam.

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But guys came by my house and tried

to sell me pine straw and I wound

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up Making a huge mistake and, uh,

spending a lot of money on pine straw

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and people remember those things.

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That's the stuff people really remember.

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So I would just say, those are the

two things I would say is exaggerate

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your own character and give as much

as you can about your personal life.

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Chris Demm: Yeah.

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And my advice would

be, be a good listener.

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Um, you know, use, use your time

as wide as you can, because we

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have incredible phone callers.

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As Chris Kelly said, we have two other.

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major players on the show.

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Everybody has equal

access to microphone time.

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So listen and you know, remain

in your character and you

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know, know what your job is.

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Like Chris Kelly will tell stories

about himself and he leaves himself

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open for a punchline, which is kind

of an opening for myself or Biggie,

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uh, our phone screener producer who

has a background in standup comedy.

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He knows how to come in

with just the right line.

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You know, it's just sometimes

it's a simple line and then you

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can take that on a two minute.

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Comedic tangent talking about anything,

you know, about, you know, how husbands

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and wives get together or how parents

and children relate to one another.

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So, you know, know your role and

pick your spots and be respectful and

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take, take your job seriously, but not

yourself seriously, but that's some

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of the best advice I've ever heard.

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Chris Kelly: Great, great way to say that.

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I mean, I, I feel like, and I think this

is probably Randy Lane that told us this,

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the more vulnerability you can have, I

don't mind being vulnerable and leaving

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myself open for jokes because it's.

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I hear so many hosts say something that's

like, uh, leaves themselves open and

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vulnerable and the other hosts start to

make, the other co hosts start to make

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fun of them or joke around and they'll

say, Oh, no, no, no, and try to fight it.

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I don't do that because I feel like

the comedy is just there for that.

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I don't mind taking those hits.

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I think in

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Chris Demm: comedy, they

call that going with the bit.

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And Chris Kelly is, you know, A

plus for, for going with the bit.

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Try.

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Dave: These guys are amazing

and they're named Chris.

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That's something else.

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Somebody you'd love to hear from.

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We'd love to hear your suggestions.

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Just email show at brandwithondemand.

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com or reach out to us on social.

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Brandwith Plus on Insta,

Facebook, and Twitter.

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And that, that's X or whatever it is.

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: 00:12:25

That's Brandwith P L U S.

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Brandwith Plus.

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So should we make that Brandwith

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Kipper: P L U X?

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Dave: No.

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Kipper: So if you're new to the

podcast, we just want to say welcome

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and please be sure to hit the follow

button wherever you get podcasts.

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And if you've been with us for

a while, even better, be sure

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to tell a friend if you would.

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: 00:12:49

And We'd appreciate a five star

rating wherever you get your podcast.

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Dave: Coming up, 2 Guys Named Chris

reveal something they know now that they

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really wish they knew way back then.

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: 00:13:02

Spot1: Here at Musicmaster, we can

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Have you ever heard this?

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Of course you have.

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It's dead air.

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: 00:13:10

Or how about this?

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Yeesh, what's known as

the trainwreck segue.

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Or maybe your PD just heard

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: 00:13:23

back, and it's not even Tuesday.

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: 00:13:25

At Music Master, we know a thing or two,

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Just scroll down the show

notes or visit radio content

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pro dot com slash BRANDwidth.

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: 00:14:22

VO2: The stuff we know now.

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We wish we'd known then.

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BRANDwidth

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Dave: on Demand.

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We're with 2 Guys Named Chris.

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No, really.

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They are 2 Guys Named Chris.

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Guys, what do you know now?

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You really wish you'd known

way back in the beginning.

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Chris Kelly: I think I would say, I wish

I had known then that our hard work would

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pay off in the, in the way that listeners

would trust us and believe in us and laugh

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at what we were doing without us trying

to reinvent the wheel, as we mentioned.

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Uh, without us trying to do things that

really weren't in our comfort zone, that

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what we had was working and, uh, would

work and that it would all pay off.

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I just, I just wish I had trusted

my, I wish I had trusted what we

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do now, 25 years ago, because it

took a while to get to that point.

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Chris Demm: That's a, it's an amazingly

tough question off the top of my head.

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I would say, you know, be, be accessible

to all the members of your team.

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I mean, you know, a radio station

is an immense undertaking.

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We have people who work part time.

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We have people on our promo team, our

sales team, you know, Kelly and I have

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always prided ourselves on trying to be.

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: 00:15:36

Available and accessible to our

sales team because they're the

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: 00:15:39

ones who get us the endorsements.

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: 00:15:41

They're the ones who, you know,

keep the ad revenue coming in.

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: 00:15:43

So be known and be available in

the building to everybody on the

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: 00:15:48

team, because you're all really

essentially working for the same goal.

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: 00:15:50

You know, you don't have the same job,

but you're, the goals are the same.

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: 00:15:53

Dave: Our thanks to 2 Guys Named

Chris links for their archive

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: 00:15:57

shows, podcasts, feature bits,

and more all in the show notes.

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: 00:16:01

Just scroll down on your phone.

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: 00:16:03

Kipper: As always our thanks to Exec

Producer, Cindy Huber and to Associate

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Producer, Hannah B for booking.

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: 00:16:10

And coming up next.

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: 00:16:11

Molly: Hi, it's Molly Cruz,

brand manager of B96 in Chicago.

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: 00:16:16

And next time on BRANDwidth on Demand,

I'll share with you the best advice I

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ever got and how I get through my days.

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Of being a brand manager in the

third largest market in the U.

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: 00:16:32

S.

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: 00:16:32

And, uh, and being a mom, all in one day.

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: 00:16:35

Dave: That's a wrap, Kipper.

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: 00:16:37

Level up with a goal and a plan.

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: 00:16:40

That's this time in

One Minute Martinizing.

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: 00:16:43

Find it in the show notes

at brandwithondemand.

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com.

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: 00:16:47

I'm Dave Martin.

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Kipper: And I'm Kipper McGee.

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: 00:16:49

May all your BRANDwidth on Demand be wide.